Ryuk I gotta agree with you on that one. The Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver has the best intro I've ever seen in a game, and I have been gaming for a very long time.
I think he meant that in Dark Souls, gods are more or less mortal. They are not beings of infinite power who can't be killed, like in Christianity or Islam, more like Greek or Norse mythology, where gods can be killed and can die. In DS, they became gods because they took Lord Souls, so it means that they weren't even born as gods.
You know what I love about this intro? I've seen many like it in other fantasy RPGs. Great epic backstories... that actually don't amount to much. They just kinda set up the world's history, or show some war or action sequence that's irrelevant to the plot, and that's about it. It doesn't have much else to do with the game you actually play through. NOT HERE This intro is so similar to those, and to be fair, for the first half of the game you might think it's just another meh RPG history intro. But you'll soon learn that absolutely every word uttered in this intro is vital to the plot. Everyone with a name here is someone you WILL have a meaningful encounter with at some point in the game (well, except MAYBE the pygmy, but that's another story). On top of that, many of the locations and items in the game revolve around them and aren't just there to look cool. It's amazing how the game interwove everything into its narrative.
The furtive pygmy is literally the most meaningful character in the whole game lmao. He's the progenitor of humanity, the player character wouldn't exist without him.
+Gorfinhofin When he took the lord soul in his hands, he became the lord of the Dark Soul, so it makes a lot of sense he casts a huge shadow since it would be a reflection of his inner power
2:39 So brutal, crushing the scales of his own kins, towering over a mountain he made with their corpses...how ironic that the only mortal dragon would be the last survivor of his race. I love this guy.
People who are complaining about the background dark souls, it a fucking creation story, its supposed to be mysterious, that's what makes interesting. Do you guys really have to bring this bullshit into Mythology's inside video games now?
Drew Russell You thought Ornholio and Manus were hard? You're talking about taking on something Gough said required 30 knights just to kill one of. Prepare to Die. A lot.
Gotta love the Greek mythology parallels, specifically with how the gods overthrew the titans, or in this case dragons, and took their place as rulers of the world.
_In the Age of Nintendo... the gaming world was unformed... shrouded by monopoly. A land of gray consoles, Power Gloves, and Everlasting Mario Bros._ _But then there was Sega... and with Sega came disparity. 8- and 16-bit... cartridge and CD... and of course... NES and Genesis._ _Then, from the Genesis, They came, and found the Fads of the Nineties within the market gap._ _Sonic, the First of the Hedgehogs. Miles "Tails" Prower, and his co-op AI scripting. Dr. Robotnik, and his faithful Badniks. And Knuckles the Echidna, so easily forgotten..._ _With the strength of Blast Processing, they challenged the Mario Bros. Robotnik's mighty Badniks peeled apart their Goombas. Tails weaved great mechanical inventions. Sonic unleashed a miasma of hip and radical. And Luigi the Gloryless betrayed his own, and Nintendo's monopoly was no more._ _Thus began the Age of Sonic. But soon the fandom will fade, and only retsupurae will remain. Even now there is only nostalgia, and fans see not games, but only endless disappointments. And amongst the holdouts are seen... players of the accursed_ Sonic Boom...
in the age of call of duty.. the world was fun.. and non competitive.. home to casuals.. but then there was the MLG.. and with the MLG.. came disparity.. experienced.. and noobs. scrubs.. and pros.. and of course.. hardcores... and casuals.. and from the casual they came.. the illuminati, the first of the conspiracies.. the witch of hacks.. and her daughters of mountain dew. Faze tempurr.. Lord of Quick-scoping and his faithful tryhards.. and the rekt scrub.. so easily forgotten.. with the strength of sponsors.. they challenged the casuals. faze's mighty no scopes made the casuals rage.. the witches weaved great storms of double XP.. the illuminati unleashed a miasma of doritos and hidden messages.. and seath the faze wannabe.. betrayed his own.. and the casuals were no more.. and thus began.. the age of Hardcore gaming.. (i tried.. XD
I admire how seriously Dark Souls takes itself. Very well done, I've never seen a game pull it off where it's not the least bit campy. At least in my opinion.
Actually it does not tho? All the fromsoft games are full of comical moments close to slapstick: be it absurd deaths or lines in dialogue. But that does not mean, the game is not also serious about its main topics and lore
The part where Seath is on the mound full of his dead breathen who he betrayed while letting out that cry.. gets me everytime. I love the lore behind him the most in this first game.
I don't care about the Witch, who literally created Hell. I don't care about Gwyn, because he's old. I don't care about Seath because he's batshit insane. However, I do care about Nito. I felt so bad for killing him. RIP my nigga Nito.
+James Witteveen Yeah, he was the most neutral out of them. Just chillin' in that coffin, not really caring if the Age of Fire was dying, just waiting for nature to take it's course
Mećim Nope, you have to kill him for the lord soul. If you want his covenant, you have to join that and rank up before you kill him, once you kill him you can no longer join/rank up in his covenant.
I think the first half hour or hour or so depending on your pace is one of the best RPG openings I've ever played. The story gives you everything you need to know, yet retains a ton of mystery that is peeled...or not...depending on how you play or how much you pay attention. It's a mastery of minimalistic storytelling. Jeffthereaper: That may be true of REAL LIFE, but it certainly isn't true about storytelling. Stories are interesting and made to entertain, and one of the ways that is achieved is through mystery and NOT telling us everything. I'm an atheist and skeptic...I make it my life mission to unravel truth and to bring knowledge to people, however I understand the value of mystery when it comes to entertainment. I love Dark Souls BECAUSE there is a lot to figure out. I've ran through half a dozen characters already and I still can't get enough of this game. It certainly appeals more to me than say, Skyrim, which tells you practically the entire story in a very in-your-face manner. The minimalistic storytelling in Dark Souls is refreshing, and it makes you feel more involved the more and more you discover of it.
So what I’m gathering from the intro to Dark Souls is that people discovered fire and used that newfound power to challenge the rulers of the world: the dragons. They won, but things aren’t looking too good for the world now and it’s up to the player to rekindle the fire again.
yes and no, people did not discover the fire its something that just happend... and the beings that came from the dark where not humans were just... beings of the dark, they use the power of the lord souls to change the world but the flames are fading and everything is lost SPOILER WARNING FROM THIS POINT ON the games is build entirely around the ilusion of choice, does not matter the choice you make ending will be the same regarless, all you can choose is either to rekindle the fire and exend the age of fire for a little longer, or ambrace the darkness and rule whats to came
The game in general is basically about delaying the inevitable. The Age of Fire is ending whether anyone likes it or not. Gwyn threw himself into the First Flame, the source of the gods power, but that doesn't fix anything it just keeps the Dark back a little longer. Regardless of whether Manus is slayer or not, the Abyss is going to swallow Oolicile. And no matter how hard an Undead fights, eventually his Humanity will fade and he will Hollow. There is no stopping any of this regardless of your effort or how good or evil a person you are. So the game becomes a choice of whether its better to welcome the end (or at least the next Age) with open arms? Or if its worth fighting for what little life you have left.
Possible Souls series Spoilers and a ton of speculation: In Dark Souls II it's all but confirmed that the whole waning flame/quest to rekindle the flame thing is a cycle that, for all we know, could have been repeating itself for eons before Gwyn and his band of merry misfits came into the fray. Additionally, the Souls games are notorious for having unreliable narration. To uncover the truth behind various in-game stories and concepts, the player needs to have an eye for minutia and a good imagination to fill in the gaps that are left by said unreliable narration. Being that the prologue is exceptionally vague and takes the form of a rather simplistic story, I think it's more plausible that Gwyn and Co. are just another reincarnation of their past selves. The dragons, being eternal, may have known about this cycle and may have been trying to break the cycle by oppressing the lords and their kin, preventing them from inheriting the lord's souls and starting the next cycle of world building followed by widespread world-fuckery. Obviously they failed if that was their mission, and Gwyn proceeded to help rebuild the world and then accidentally fuck it with his friends. The player's role in all this is to unknowingly continue the cycle, for better or worse. By collecting the lord's souls from the former gods of the world, you can choose to kindle the flame with them sacrificing yourself and prolonging its current life, or let it die. Either way it doesn't matter, as souls are infinite while flesh is not and the lord's souls eventually find their way back to the flame if you choose to let it die; hence Dark Souls II being a thing.
@@elevate07 Defeating Manus stopped the Abyss tho. Oolacile as a society and a people was destroyed, but the Dark eventually disappeared and the land healed-
@@Spartansoldier217 I know it's been a long time, but "In Dark Souls II it's all but confirmed that the whole waning flame/quest to rekindle the flame thing is a cycle that, for all we know, could have been repeating itself for eons before Gwyn and his band of merry misfits came into the fray" could someone give a single source for this claim?
So if I get that right. 1. There is an age of grey. Immortal entities and fog everywhere but neither life nor death 2. Then there is fire. Life and with it death appears, light and darkness etc. etc. 3. Then creatures of life and of death both fuck up the dragons for no apparent reason 4. And so the age of fire starts, threatened to be replaced with an age of darkness 5. And then that giant asshole of a protagonist comes along and kills everyone Happy fucking end.
Pay attention, and you'll know that the dragons were abusive tyrants, who wanted to stay in power. And the only reason the player kills all those people is so that he can open the kiln and defeat gwyn, so that he can relight the dying flame, thusly saving all of existence.... so yeah, if you sacrifice yourself to save everything in existence, you're obviously the asshole. And if you're Christian... damn. Then you worship an "asshole"
Skylar Crittenden Uh...but you don't actually kill him so that you are able to relight the fire. That's not the purpose of the journey, is it? You don't set out, saying "I need to relight the fire to save the world!" You just escape prison, some guy tells you to ring 2 bells and that "something great" will happen then. And then this ancient serpent comes and lures you into becoming the next lord to replace gwyn. Gwyn was the one who set out to keep everyone alive by trying to relight the fire. He was the one who linked the bonfires to prolong the world's existence. He's one of the good guys. And you kill him. Almost everyone you meet is actually one of the good guys. Ornstein, Gwyndolin and everyone else in Anor Londo. The witches who tried to recreate the first flame. And sacrificing yourself to keep the fire alive is just an option after you killed him. You can also choose to not light the fire and let the world wither and die. I guess you could say you are "putting them out of their misery" in a sense. But that isn't really appliable to all the ones you kill. The creatures in the picture world for example. The boss basically begged you to leave them alone. Gwyn's silver knights of Anor Londo too never harbored any evil intentions.
Flevalt The character you play receives hints that there is something important he must do through out the whole game. Right at the start, a knight busts you out of jail and "passes you the torch, so that you may keep it lit." You also hear about a chosen undead, and he will leave the undead asylum in pilgrimage to the land of lords. At this point, even if you don't know what you should be doing, you know that you at least should survive and avoid going hollow. You have to fight to survive, specially if you are surrounded by mindless hollows that just want to kill you. And You must kill Gwyn. Gwyn is like a piece of wood that's all burned up. That's why the world is going dark. Something must be done, and it is the prophecy of the chosen undead that holds the answer. He either rekindles the flame or he sets an age of dark. But the age of dark is temporary, for it is part of a cycle, that one monarch shall carry a heavy burden of souls and sacrifice himself to the flame. (this last part coming from dark souls 2)
I've dug a bit deeper into the Souls series by now and got to know that the King's Field games were the predecessors to Dark Souls which clears up the confusion surrounding the story quite a bit. I really didn't expect King's Field to be connected to this series and it's weird I didn't notice the similarities between the 2 earlier. Also some nice points you make there.
3.About killing those dragons, there was a reason - Lust, lust for power and conquer. Dragons rules the above eternal ago, kings of the world, now you have the power to get you to the same place as those dragons. Would thou not try?
Bee Souls: "In the age of ancients, the World was unformed, shrouded...... in BEES!! Hundreds and hundreds of BEEEEES!! All stinging you and going up your bum hole!!"
Zap Redfield Bear in mind that 2001 does have its following, even if you haven't watched it chances are you still know of it. And the DkS series is quite successful overall, so it's not like all of 10 people would ever understand it, even a cult following is still good.
If a movie were made of Dark Souls it would have to be like The Road but with less dialogue and more gorgeous views and tough enemies the 'nameless main character' battles in his or hers journey. Since the whole plot of Dark Souls is like euphemism for the eventual heat death of the universe by entropy in a fantasy setting. The concepts of futility and despair and calm melancholy should be very central themes throughout the film's narrative. Images should do the majority of talking instead of actual talking by characters... Unfortunately that does not tend to translate well to big audiences, or more specifically does not translate to what movie studios think big audiences want to see. But I'm certain that if done right it would be something amazing.
Reminds me of that movie Valhalla Rising. Also a movie of DS might be hard since it is interpreted so many different ways. A lot of people do not see it so much was the death of world but the death of an age that has gone on for far to long.
It is midirs boss room, and over that is the ringed city which Gwyn gifted to the pygmys. Makes sense that they would have built the city on top of where the furtive pygmy found the lord soul.
3:20 The woman is Anastacia of Astora at Firelink graveyard. The Dingy set is undeniable, and the person is sitting - possibly crippled. She keeps the bonfire burning for all the hopeless hollows. The one she touches as he's lying dead would be Oscar, who then crouches in the nest (or is a shiny thing for the crow), consequently is taken and frees the player in the Undead Asylum. Mind blown.
When I told my friends I've had enough of Skyrim's light-hearted adventure style (after playing it for two years anyway xD) and asked them if they know any serious,dark-atmosphere,difficult RPGs that keep you intrigued throughout the game and make you want to explore them,they were all like "Dark Souls" so I got the game.. HOLY..FUCKING..WOW this game is so great,hard,mysterious and most importantly,dark as shit.Everything seems hopeless and your efforts feel in vain,you can even choose to give up if you feel that it's all going to a dead-end,or you can defy the darkness and the despair and rekindle the light of the world,like WOW how epic can you GET!
+CalzonesPlateados 9000 That's actually one of the things many criticize about DS2, it's more focused on the player and his sanity depleting rather the world and how it's approaching its end, can be a good theme, but still, DS1>DS2, still great game tho
+FirstName LastName My problem with 2 is that the intro of the game is a bait and switch. Yeah you showed up to Drangleic because you're halfway through hollowing and you're looking for answers and Drangleic supposedly has them. So you get there and then you're sidetracked with this other tale about a missing King and his gold digging wife. Huh? So you look for the King hoping that he has some answers about the Hollowing which causes you to go to all these other places which, other than the fact that there are Lord Souls there, have nothing to do with anything. Also Seath is a Lord now. What? Anyway you finally find King Vendrick and it turns out he's already Hollowed out. So now how do you get the answers to your Hollowing? Well your two options are to either go along with what Shanalotte tells you and become the next monarch, which had nothing to do with why you showed up to Drangleic in the first place and also entails you setting yourself on fire. Or you can buy the DLC or the game of the year edi-I mean Scholar of the First Sin, so you can beat up these other guys who also have the power of the First Flame (What?) so you can get a crown that will stop your Hollowing. And then go and set yourself on fire maybe.The primary problem with DaS2 is that it doesn't know what to do with itself.
+elevate07 I heard a theory once that said that the reason why you get sidetracked is you yourself begin to lose your purpose and sanity and forget why you came to Drangleic in the first place and get swept up in the King finding quest. Whether thats true or not but I just love Dark Soul's attention to Gameplay and Story integration the theory that your player character is sane but becomes hollow when you decide to stop playing DS2.
In the age of colleges, the internet was unformed... shrouded by discussions between professors, and students, helping each other out. But then, there was free time. And with free time came disparity. Serious and ironic. Trolling and raging. And, of course... intelligent and cringey. Then, from the cringe, they came, and found the things to do within the free time. Leafy, the first of the salty. Markiplier, and his loads of fanart. Doge, and his faithful memes. And Andrew Hussie, so easily forgotten... With the power of their newfound free time, they challenged the professors and students. Doge's awful comic sans phrases tore off the professers' sanity. Markiplier, and his fan art, got really popular with the students. Leafy sent a storm of sour comments about the students. And Keemstar the Degreeless betrayed his own. And thus, education was no more. Thus began The Age of Memes. But soon, the funny people will get jobs, and only stale memes will remain. Even now there is only a bit of quality content, and people do not laugh, but lose their faith in humanity. And among some people are seen.. The accursed Weebsign.
I can't wait to start playing. My copy's arriving on the 15th, and I've got my character planned out. I'm starting as a Pyromancer with the Pendant gift. I'm curious to see just how it affects my game.
Based on what I've seen, it sounds like gwyn is supposed to be a good guy, but I've heard that he's a bad guy- one of the final bosses, If I remember correctly.
He began the age of lords after ending the age of ancients, which meant prosperity to all lords(demigod people) but little to any other beings (giants and humans). The lords have prospered, but at the cost of all other beings being either enslaved or subjugated to them. Not an easy thing to call "good."
Status as a boss doesn't make you good or bad, simply someone one needs to defeat. Gwyn simply overthrew the dragons and helped create the age of fire. While he had the most gain from it, humans can be seen to prosper to a degree as well. As it began to end he sacrifices himself to keep it going. When it begins to end, you or someone else will do what he did. But he's gone hollow/insane from so many years of burning alive but just as in life, he is defiant in the end.
It does...it is a looooooooooooong time after the first game, its so long they are not even sure what happened, just know about the fire, giants crossing the sea etc... Google it :)
@TheRedemptionRain most of the story in the game is told by means of descriptions of items, talking to npcs (and that's not the normal 20 minute cutscene it is in some games, its a few lines of dialogue) its a game which challenges your preconceived notions, has absolutely NO disregard for your well being, and has hidden deep within its bowels a very intriguing story, amazing maps which help to tell the story (nothing is there just cus it looks cool) and not so much a difficulty curve as cliff.
No. Most everyone was both good and bad. That's kinda the whole concept of the Souls games. That humanity has the potential to be both good and evil. There were very few characters who were actually evil. (I know two who both lack legs...) really, most everyone was good at some point. Our hero just wants to cure the curse, Solaire (an actually good guy) wanted to find his sun (a faucet through which he could bring hope and light to those who need it), the Lords did what helped the world, at the time. Seigmeyer was trying to find his daughter. Even Manus was just trying to help himself and those that lived in the Abyss, quite similar to how the player is trying to help themselves and those afflicted with the curse. Everyone is A (trying to do what's best for themselves and/ or their people), B (was merely trying to defend themselves), or C (was good and trying to help everyone, but got corrupted or manipulated) Except Lautrec. He's a prick. (A prick that'd fit into C) but that's the whole theme of dark souls. Everyone/thing has the potential to be both good and evil, but are all still pawns to Fate.
"Nito, the first of the dead". I love that part. Also does anyone else find Havel's shield to be like activating a god mode? I played through it once not really using shields and mostly light armor but on my 2nd time I did Havel's armor and his shield, it was infinitely easier. I bet if Havel didn't turn hollow he could've easily rekindled the flames.
bigest hole in the entire plot, 1 where did the fire come from anyways? 2 why were there souls of lords/gods in the flames? 3 why does fire being there suddenly give birth to humanity and living dead? the entire build up of the plot works perfectly, but the start is so obscure that they act like "it just happened, big deal, nobody knows why"
***** same is the same, its unknown, and that is anoying, they need to make a game that explains that entire happening, perhaps dark souls 2 will explain, if not, lets hope they will one day make a prequel where you can fight along with the 4 lords vs all dragons XD, im siding with Nito btw2
***** me too, but the problem about that part is that If the makers of the game ever bring out there own story, it will mean all our theory's get smashed to bits by possibly a lot less fun story then we all had, or, they will never release a true story at all, ending in a huge flame war for the duration of the game series popularity as most people won't give up on there own theory's, I would just like to know how it all happened according to the makers of the game them-selfs, personally myself I think one of the Primordial serpents, Kingseeker Frampt in perticulair, tricked one or more dragons in creating the primordial flame (possibly by sacreficing there own being into the flame what later became the lord's souls) its very vague but its the only theory I have on that one as gods only started existing after the first flame, and only dragons, demons and the primordial serpents existed back then, Kingseeker Frampt is very focused on helping you preserve the age of fire, so somehow I can only think he has something to do with the start of all it, (also pretty sure that Kaathe and Frampt are 2 heads on the same body (or just have one huge snake body with a head on both ends) its no coincidence that they have such a long neck and look so alike after all XD
Well in my own opinion both endings are bad, Its pretty obvious that in the world of dark souls, all rules of physics and existence are linked to "the primordial flame" if that flame stops existing, then so too will all other fire, life, death, everything but if it keeps being fed artificially to keep it alive long past its natural lifespan, then it only courses a large amount of negative side effects on all existence too the result should be clear, Gwyn sacrificed all his humanity to rekindle the first flame, becourse the flame was kept alive beyond its true lifespan, so has now life and death have gained a prolonged existence too, thus, the curse of the undead was born, Gwyn, empty of his humanity, became the first hollow, his dark knights the first of the undead. becourse what happens to the flame effects all, so did the curse of the undead spread to all of humanity too, just like the flame, humanity is kept alive artificially, when they die, they are drawn to a flame and will be reborn, undead. by regaining humanity they can become human ones more, but remaining true undead too long, or dying to many times will strip them from all humanity, eventually making them hollow, a state where they are no longer linked to the fire. if killed, they will die, only to stand up again a long time later, not being drawn to a flame, but simply standing up again. in simple terms, re kindling the flame is a horrible ending as it will only ensure the preservation of the curse of the undead until it infects all of humanity and eventually the gods themselfs who were also born along with the flames. in that ending, the future holds nothing but all life turning hollow in a endless seeming existence that never ends. (the player also being a dick as he/she does gets to die from being totaly destroyed by the flames, thus, being the only one that truely dies while the rest is forced to come back over and over and over untill the flame finally starts dying again) the other ending is not good ether, as leaving the flame to end, means the world to end (using the word "end" as "die" would not fit well, as death does not exist without life, and neather existed before the flame, thus if the fire ends, the world will not die, but simply "end") when the flame is gone, in time so will everything that was born along with it, meaning the player is at that moment, the ruler over a empty ream that fades and fades faster at every moment. darkstalker kaath's plans are the most obvious, if the flame dies, life and death vanish and the world can go back to how it was, a word where beings like him ruled. kingseeker's plans are more covered up, most likely he just wants humanity to keep existing so he can use humanity to produce something he needs/wants (humanity? souls?) stuff like that.
If the game answered those questions, it may end up being like the Silmarillion or the Bible, where everything that ever happens is because of one almighty deity. Even so, one would ask who created Eru (Silmarillion) or God (Bible) and whether time has a beginning or if it goes infinitely back into the past. Like math theorems, where everything is logically proven based on other theorems, but at some point you have to accept certain facts as is without any cause, aka postulates.
***** actually that theory is already entirely impossible as the game lore states that before the fire, there was nothing but a unchanging world with everlasting dragons, in other words, the world was first nothing but wasteland, it was not dead, but also not alive, dragons were alive, but lived eternally if not killed, technically that makes them "not alive" but more like "immortals" who can still die from sustaining too much damage, but never dying form anything else. Its also stated between the lines here and there, that the god's them selfs were born when the fire came into existence, meaning no deity or being created anything, but instead the origin of the flame can only come from one of the beings that roamed the world (dragons being the most obvious choice as they kinda spit fire and understand the essence of fire more then any other being will ever be able to do) as for Deity's, the Primordial serpents are most likely the closest thing to that, tough it is never said in the game, its obvious they make there home in the "void", the void itself has always existed and will always exist, meaning its most likely that these 2 beings were already old when the world of the eternal dragons came to rise, they existed before the world even existed. tough they never displayed any kind of power, they are skilled in manipulation and changing the will of others, thus my theory on the serpents somehow have managed to trick some of the stronger dragons into creating the fire, why? perhaps they were bored? perhaps they wanted a change? no mater what the reason, one of the serpents clearly sees some kind of profit in the existence of life and death, while the other thinks the world should just vanish, and only the void should remain. tough both serpents have shown no special powers, they do seem to be able to traverse the void, knowing where to go (despite the void being infinite in size and impossible to navigate in) and slip true space (when framp appears from the hole at the shrine and from the ceiling when you drop down the hole, its odd that you never see his body but his neck starts somewhere half way the hole, meaning somewhere halfway he must have opened a portal from the void to that tunnel so he could appear there) In game they also have no health bar, this is most likely intentional as the stone (eternal) dragon in the ash lands is also indestructible but still has a health bar when you hit him, indicating that the primordial serpents are immortal and indestructible. meaning they are the closest thing to gods in that game XD
Does anyone know what is it that Seath crushes in his hand @2:41? Also I love his appearance here in the cutscene much more than in the actual game. Ingame he looks... I don't know, like a generic anime monster or something. Just my opinion.
+Jazz1992 Well they did their best with the hardware. I think Seath's design heavily relies on being scaleless, but with the way his boss fight is, it really isn't accentuated as much as it should've been.
+Jazz1992 I agree with every single one of you, the blood would had been a really nice touch but gotta reckon that implementing that along with a nice "pale skin" texture would had been really hard to pull at the time
Let me try to help as best I can: In the beginning the world was nothing but ash and darkness with immortal dragons everywhere. Suddenly there was fire which brought all living beings. 4 beings in particular gained "lord souls," souls that placed them above everyone else. Lord Gwyn, Lord Nito, and the Witch of Izalith defeated the dragons and brought an age of light and prosperity aka the age of fire. The 4th lord, the furtive Pygmy, gained what was called the "dark soul" and scattered it among all humans. The fragments of the dark soul would be later called "humanity" a.d would be what separated the living from the undead. And everyone lived happily ever after. At least they wanted to. But darkness began creeping up and the power of fire was beginning to wane. Lord Gwyn struggled to keep the age of fire going. He visited the Witch of Izalith to help renew the flame. But her plan backfired and rather than restore the power of fire she destroyed herself and Izalith and created the demons. Add to that the lunatics in Oolacile created a literal abyss of darkness which cost Lord Gwyn some of his best men, and the worshippers of darkness in New Londo became maniacs who preyed on human souls. Which cost Gwyn even more men and forced him to flood the city. Surrounded by growing darkness on all sides while his own power continued to decrease, Lord Gwyn took a drastic last step: he sacrificed his own lord soul to keep the age of fire going a little longer. Enter you: the Chosen Undead. Your job is to gather the Lord Souls and either do what you can to keep the age of fire going a little longer, or accept that the age of fire is over and become lord of the dark.
I should mention another important tidbit: the darksign. With the power of fire failing, a curse has begun to spread that causes people to be unable to die. They rise again as undead at bonfires. This wouldn't be a problem, except that the more people die or remain undead or lose their purpose in life as undead, the sooner they become "hollow." Hollow are undead that have lost their minds and begin attacking everyone around them. There are several stories about how the world reacts to this. Some groups, like the Way of White, hates the undead and sends them out on doomed missions to get rid of them. Others have embraced the notion of being undead and are completely OK with it.
@@elevate07 Humanities aren't what separates the living and the undead. Gwyn and his kin don't have pieces of the Dark Soul, yet they are still living. Izalith created the Flame of Chaos long before the fire started to fade, and she did so out of ambition and arrogance, wanting to control fire and create her own life, not as a replacement for the First Flame. The corruption of Oolacile and New Londo happened after Gwyn linked the flame.
At 2:07 you can clearly see the Silver Knight Straight Sword and part of the Silver Knight Set, that means that before the Age of Fire Gwyns faithful Silver Knights were the ones fighting alongside him.
@DarthBobify well. as the game starts, the age of fire described in the intro is beginning to end and mankind is cursed by the undead plague. undead means that you become zombie-like after death, and eventually lose your mind ("going hollow"). your character is either; Gwyn's successor (you sacrifice your life, as he did, to keep the age of fire going) or the lord of darkness (you let the fire die and begin the age of dark). that's your choice. I hope that helps somewhat.
Nito isn't the only original Lord that you fight. Presumably, when the age of fire neared its end, the Lords, among them the Witch of Izalith and Lord Gwyn, attempted to extend the age by recreating the first flame - but the attempt failed, and not only did the Witch of Izalith and her daughters undergo horrible changes, but the other Lords also changed. It's not known exactly, but it's assumed you need Nito's Lordsoul to either restore the Age of Fire or start the Age of Dark.
After a short time, those who are Hollow (undead) become insane which is what happens to the Hollow in places like the Asylum, Sunlight Alter and beginning area of New Londo Ruins. The ones in armour still bear a little sense, enough to unify to bring you down, but you can see by those furthers along the Hollow trail that they're completely gone, just shells with nothing to them whatsoever.
Nito, as the first of the deads, had 0 subjects at this time, fought his battles alone and so had to slowly grow his domain, and not so much time after, the undead curse appear...
I've always had trouble deciding if Lordran is an actual tangible place within the universe of Dark Souls or if it's some metaphysical purgatory where the undead dwell. I suppose the nature of "undeath" should answer the question, since the very idea behind the concept is that we stay here rather than moving on to wherever it is we're supposed to go once we die. Still can't shake the feeling that Lordron is somehow "severed" and isolated from the rest of the world.
